Jibaku EDIT:
QC APPROVED (5/3)
[Overview]
<p>
As part Part of the new legendary foursome (don't forget PONY, people!), Terrakion boasts a unique type combination with Fighting/Rock and some pretty beastly base stats to take advantage of
it offensively. The great type coverage granted by its STABs alone essentially allows Terrakion to do whatever it wants with its last two moveslots. Because of these factors, Terrakion can be one of the best stat-boosters,
Choice Band users, or Choice Scarf users in the game. in the game, one of the best Choice Band users in the game, and one of the best revenge killers in the game when equipped with a Choice Scarf. With this offensive diversity, Terrakion is one of the
most prominent best offensive threats in
OU the game that every team should be prepared for, and everyone should consider using.</p>
[SET]
name: Double Booster
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Swords Dance
move 3: Close Combat
move 4: Stone Edge
item: Air Balloon / Life Orb
nature: Jolly / Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>As mentioned in the Overview, Terrakion has amazing offensive typing, and combined with its bulk, has the freedom to do what very few other Pokemon in the game
can are able to: run a double boosting set. This gives Terrakion the versatility to be a fantastic weapon against both offensive and defensive teams. Against offensive teams, Rock Polish allows Terrakion to use its great STABs and the boost from Life Orb to run through them. Against slower, defensive teams, Terrakion can amplify its raw power with a Swords Dance, since it is unlikely to require the Speed boost. Also, it isn't that uncommon to find yourself in a situation where you are able to boost both Speed and Attack.</p>
<p>Air Balloon versus Life Orb is the biggest question you have to ask yourself when using Double Boosting Terrakion. Air Balloon is extremely useful for setting up in those frequent situations where you need to avoid an Earthquake. The two most obvious scenarios are getting an extra boost against Gliscor and serving as
somewhat of an Excadrill check that can threaten a late game sweep
—in the absence of a Rock Slide flinch, of course. Life Orb, on the other hand, adds to Terrakion's raw power, allowing it to nail a number of KOs that it normally wouldn't get. It really comes down to personal preference and which item is best suited for your team. Choose wisely!</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Whether to choose Adamant or Jolly is another difficult choice. Jolly is preferred for the ability to
outpace outspeed positive plus-Speed Base 100
s Speed Pokemon before a Rock Polish boost, and to tie other
Base base 108s, most
notably prominently Virizion, Infernape, and obviously other Terrakion. The power boost from
an Adamant
nature is very welcome, however
, so . So if you're fine losing the jump on a few notable Pokemon, feel free to go with that. You could also run a slightly bulkier spread with Leftovers if that floats your boat. However, the standard 4 HP /252 Atk /252 Spe spread generally works best.</p>
<p>Terrakion already has fantastic coverage with its two STABs, but you can always drop one of the boosting moves for a coverage move, the best option being X-Scissor. X-Scissor gives you a slightly stronger, 100% accurate move against a few of the Psychic-types that can slow Terrakion down a bit (especially Claydol). Earthquake is generally a terrible option, as its coverage is extremely redundant with Close Combat
, so don't run that on this set.</p>
<p>Terrakion can function as either
a the Pokemon that opens holes for the rest of your team, or
one the Pokemon that takes advantage of the holes opened by other threatening sweepers. Generally, the best sweepers to pair with Terrakion are those that fare well in sand. Landorus and Excadrill are the two
most prominent sweepers that come to mind. Landorus can stick Hidden Power Ice on its set to take out Gliscor or run Swords Dance and Life Orb to absolutely eviscerate Slowbro or Reuniclus. Terrakion itself can muscle its way through Gliscor, which allows Excadrill to have a field day. Because Terrakion shares a number of weaknesses with either two of those sweepers, you should also consider pairing Terrakion with some sweepers that offer nice resistance-pairing. Choices include Gyarados, which resists Fighting-, Water-, Steel-, and is immune to Ground-type attacks; or Latios, which also provides several compatible resistances while potentially baiting Dark-type attacks.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Sacred Sword / Quick Attack
item: Choice Band
nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Stop me if I'm talking too much about how great Terrakion's offensive typing is, but the Choice Band set truly exemplifies just how fantastic its STABs really are. Choice Band Terrakion essentially boils down to, "Click its appropriate STAB for the situation and watch things take massive amounts of damage." Additional factors, such as great Speed, a resistance to Stealth Rock, and solid bulk make Terrakion arguably the best Choice Band user in the OU metagame.</p>
<p>Because
of just how balling Terrakion's STABs are
just so balling, the last two moves in the set serve
a very limited
functions function. X-Scissor hits
the bulky Psychic-types a bit harder than Stone Edge does, while also having the upside of being 100% accurate. Sacred Sword is a solid option in the fourth moveslot for situations in which you want to use your Fighting-type STAB without being forced to lower
Terrakion's your defenses. Quick Attack, normally a terrible option on just about everything that learns it, is somewhat viable on Terrakion. Because Terrakion doesn't need a coverage move in that last slot, Quick Attack becomes a solid situational, last resort move if you need to knock that last 15% off Latios.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Earthquake is extremely redundant with Close Combat, but it nails a couple things slightly harder and doesn't lower your defenses. However, because Choice-locked Earthquake without STAB is generally a terrible option, you're generally better off with Sacred Sword as your situational move of choice. Rock Slide is also a viable option, as it allows you to take advantage of a
more accurate higher accuracy version of your Rock-type STAB
that can while also being able to fish for a flinch if you ever need one.</p>
<p>
Generally, an Adamant nature is unadvised on any Terrakion set that doesn't have Rock Polish since it means you will be outpaced by a large number of threats, You generally don't want to lower a non-Rock Polish Terrakion's speed because it sits at a number where dropping from Jolly to Adamant will leave it outsped by a good amount of threats (as well as losing the speed tie with Virizion and Infernape), but on Choice Band Terrakion, the extra power can be very welcome against Pokemon such as Gliscor and Slowbro.</p>
<p>The same Pokemon that pair up well with the Double Boosting set also pair well with Choice Band Terrakion. In this case, however, Terrakion is generally best suited as the Pokemon that does the damage necessary to open holes in the opponent's team. The sheer damage that even bulkier Pokemon like Gliscor take from Terrakion's STABs make it nearly impossible for those defensive Pokemon to stay around long enough to wall the subsequent Excadrill or Landorus.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Rock Slide / Sacred Sword
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Many of the same factors that make Terrakion an amazing Choice Band user lend themselves to
make making Terrakion one of the best Choice Scarf users in the game as well. Its blazing
Speed speed allows it to safely revenge kill some of the biggest threats in the game, including Deoxys-S (but unfortunately not Excadrill!), a milestone that many viable Choice Scarf
users useers fall short of. The moves are self-explanatory if you read the Choice Band set
(analyses are supposed to assume that you read each set individually so maybe add like 2 sentences explaining the moves?). The fourth slot is, once again, essentially useless, so run whatever you feel like. Rock Slide is the first option merely because
its ability to flinch can be useful in a pinch, while other options such as Earthquake provide redundant coverage. the extremely fast flinch is sure to save you more than other options for that last slot could.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Once again, Adamant is an option over Jolly, and
it is even more viable
on the with
a Choice Scarf
compared to other sets. But still, losing the jump on several key Pokemon is rarely worth the extra power. Earthquake is a terrible option again for doing slightly more damage to Jirachi or...
(space) Muk, or something. You could still run Quick Attack in the last slot to pick off threatening Pokemon at low health...
(space) I'm just kidding. Please don't do that.
(lol I really like this but other GP members might not XD)</p>
[Other Options]
<p>I'm sure you've already looked through Terrakion's moveset and thought, "Whoa it learns Calm Mind!" Yes, yes it does learn Calm Mind. It's arguably Terrakion's best set; however, for some reason, the Quality Control guys won't let me list it first in this analysis. In a similar
(and more serious!) , actually serious vein, Terrakion also learns Work Up. The only use for it would be to lure Gliscor into a +1 Hidden Power Ice. The problem with that idea is that using Work Up as your opponent switches to Gliscor is a dead giveaway that you're rocking Hidden Power Ice. If you want Terrakion to act as a Gliscor lure, you're much better just pumping a ton of EVs into Special Attack so that it doesn't see it coming until it's already dead.</p>
<p>Terrakion also learns Taunt, which obviously makes a Taunt/Swords Dance set an option. However, most of Terrakion's counters are simply going to attack it straight up, meaning there are very few situations in which Taunt would be anywhere near useful. Maybe against Skarmory I guess? Yeah, that makes sense.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Gliscor and Slowbro are generally your worst enemies. Unless you're using them to counter Terrakion...
(space) then they're probably your best friends. The Swords Dance and Choice Band sets can put huge dents into the both of them, and sometimes straight-up beat them
—though oftentimes you'll have to rely on hitting two Stone Edges in a row. That's one of the most frustrating things about countering Terrakion: because it has great STABs and hits so hard, even its "counters" have trouble handling it. Jellicent and Reuniclus can also handle Terrakion to a slight degree. Hippowdon
counters handles Terrakion it about as well as Gliscor does and has Slack Off to stick around longer.</p>
<p>If you want to reach down into UU, you can actually find a couple Pokemon that shut down Terrakion better than anything in OU
can. Nidoqueen and Golurk are just about full stops to Terrakion. Claydol shuts down most Terrakion,
but though make sure you don't get caught on the wrong end of a Choice Band-boosted X-Scissor.</p>
<p>Terrakion can be hard to check because of its great
Speed speed. Scizor and Azumarill are two Choice Band users that can stop any Terrakion set dead in its tracks with their STAB priority attacks. Latios and Latias both
outpace outspeed Terrakion it before a Rock Polish
boost and threaten an OHKO with Psyshock. Excadrill can do the same with Earthquake in sand, though make sure you break the potential Air Balloon first!</p>
